Wilkes-Barre Mayor Brown's '23 budget: No to tax hike, yes to pay increases

Oct. 14—WILKES-BARRE — The $53.2 million balanced budget Mayor George Brown proposed for 2023 contains no property tax or fee increases and includes pay raises for employees, including a $10,000 boost for himself.

After starting out his term in 2020 by taking a $22,000 pay cut, Brown put in for a nearly 17% increase to $70,000 next year in the spending plan that needs approval from City Council whose pay has been frozen for years. Brown, 71, also has declined the city offered health insurance some Council members take.

By his calculations Brown said he will have saved the city close to $200,000 during his four-year term, even counting the pay raise.

When he came into office, the mayor's salary was $82,000 and he qualified for approximately $30,000 in health care, Brown explained. Each year he could have taken a 3% raise in line with other employees, pushing the salary higher. Instead he kept his pay at $60,000 and Medicare covered most of his healthcare, the remaining costs were through copays by him.

"I've given so much back. I don't know of any another mayor that's ever done that," Brown said.

The $70,000 salary Brown's asked for does not put him at the top of pay scale. Many of the city's 275 employees are paid more than the mayor.

The proposed budget listed $70,872 for a heavy equipment operator with the Department of Public Works; $73,580 for firefighter grade A; $76,827 for police patrolman grade A; $107,601 for Fire Chief Jay Delaney; $107,455 for Police Chief Joseph Coffay; and $104,927 for Director of Operations/Deputy City Administrator Butch Frati.

Brown's fourth budget submission, which was more the $1.1 million lower than the current $54.3 million budget, contained raises estimated at 2% for employees while his administration continues to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police, fire, Department of Public Works and City Hall workers.

"We have four that we have to ratify so we have to put something in there as a projection," Brown said of the contract negotiations. Health care costs estimated at $8 million also were included in the budget even though Council, wanting more information on the deal Thursday night, held off on approving a new contract with provider Highmark.

Salaries and benefits combined totaled $38.3 million or more than 72% of the expenses in the proposed budget. They were approximately 2% more than the $37.6 million budgeted for this year.

Property tax revenues increased by $100,000 to $11.5 million next year as the millage rate remains at 141.33 mills. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. Unlike the rest of Luzerne County, Wilkes-Barre uses its own assessment. The other 75 municipalities use the county's assessments.

Brown, a Democrat, dismissed any suggestion he did not raise taxes because he's running for reelection to a second and last term.

"No, my goal is to help the residents as much as I can," Brown said. "Politics has nothing to do with this budget. It's good fiscal management and I am running for mayor next year, but that has nothing to do with this budget."

Staying on the revenue side, earned income tax collections were budgeted at $16.5 million, an increase of $1.5 million from this year.

As he's done for the past two years to balance the budget, Brown again proposed using a portion of the $37.1 million in American Rescue Plan allocated by the U.S. Treasury Department to Wilkes-Barre from the larger aid package to help municipalities recover financially from the COVID-19 pandemic. He included $1.5 million as a line item revenue under Interfund Transfers. Last year's budget was balanced with $1.8 million and $3.5 million in 2021.

Given the state of the city's finances, Brown said he did not include a $3 million Tax Anticipation Note in his proposed budget. The city has traditionally taken out the loan to fund operations at the start of the year before property tax revenues come in. It books the loan as a revenue source and expense that's paid off by the end of the year.

"I don't feel it's necessary to take out the loan," Brown said. The proposal would also save the city approximately $60,000 in interest for the loan, he said.

The two hotel projects downtown on South Main Street by Sphere International LLC and the former Hotel Sterling site by H&N Investments LLC on the corner of West Market and North River streets remain active, despite no work being done on site. Brown said the developers are still pursuing funding. He included building permit fees in his budget proposal.

"I'm looking over the next year to see progress on both projects," Brown said.

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.